New rules likely for Gallatin property rights voters

The way Gallatin’s 133 nonresident property rights voters cast their ballots in local elections this year will likely change after city officials gave initial approval to new rules Tuesday.

The changes, unanimously approved by the City Council on first reading, would mean that individuals who do not live in Gallatin but own property in the city and want to vote in local elections must do so via an absentee ballot by mail.

The changes, proposed by Sumner County Administrator of Elections Lori Atchley, come after the settlement of a lawsuit by former Congressman Lincoln Davis against state officials after he was unable to vote in Fentress County in 2012. Davis was accidentally purged from Fentress County’s voting system because he registered to vote in two counties where he owned property.

As a result of the suit, property rights voters have been removed from voter registration systems in each county and placed into a new system, Atchley told council members Jan. 14.

“That sounds simple enough, but when we go to vote them it makes it a little bit more difficult and I think it leaves room for a little bit more error,” she said.

Currently, nonresident property owners can only vote in municipal elections at the Sumner County Election Office in Gallatin during early voting or at a satellite location specific to the city in which they own property.

“They have to stand in two lines, they have to sign two different books and a lot of people who vote their nonresident property rights, they cannot come in and do that,” Atchley said.

The only cities that allow property rights voting in Sumner County are Gallatin, Portland, Mitchellville and Westmoreland, Atchley said. Mitchellville is the only city so far to approve the changes, while the other three cities are in the process of adopting the new rules.

If the changes are approved, property rights voters would be mailed an application to request a ballot, which would then be mailed to them by the election office, Atchley said. The change would also mean that voters would no longer be able to cast their property rights ballots during early voting.

If an individual was not able to mail their ballot back in or if they simply forgot, they would still be allowed to vote.

“We never deny anyone the right to vote,” Atchley said. “That voter, if they show up and give us their circumstance, they will be allowed to vote a provisional ballot.”

Atchley said it is “very rare” that provisional ballots are determined not to be valid and thus not counted.

“We go back and check and make sure that they haven’t voted that absentee ballot and that they are legitimately allowed to vote,” she said. “I don’t know of any single circumstance where that has ever been denied.”